


Happy Retirement, Captain Scott

by FeatherQuilt88



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Cute, Cute Kids, Family, Family Fluff, Gen, Happy Family, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 05:16:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18958621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherQuilt88/pseuds/FeatherQuilt88
Summary: Scotty is feeling somewhat wistful, as he and the rest of theEnterprisecrew retire. But playing with his adoptive daughter soon cheers him up.





	Happy Retirement, Captain Scott

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic back in 2013. Orin is a long-standing _Star Trek_ fancharacter of mine, whom I have posted many fanfics and fanarts about over on deviantART (I'm also FeatherQuilt88, formerly cuddlesaurus21, there). She is Scotty's adoptive daughter--the engineer adopted her in the time between _The Wrath of Khan_ and _The Search for Spock_.
> 
> Dinarians are my fan-species for _Star Trek_ , and they essentially look like smallish humans, and have a fairy-like culture (though Orin has basically absorbed Scotty's Earth culture instead, she was adopted so young)--think "space munchkins" and you've just about got it.

Captain Montgomery Scott heaved a sigh of relief as he stepped outside. The grounds of Starfleet Headquarters were alive with the colors of autumn, and the chill of the air helped to make his maroon officer's overcoat--designed for the coldness of space--more comfortable.

It had been a nice party all-around, but there was only so much hand-shaking and back-slapping and cheerily-shouted well-wishing one could take at a single time. Scotty and his companions had felt rather swamped at their sendoff. Captain--formerly Admiral--James T. Kirk... Captain Spock... Medical Officer Leonard McCoy... Commander Nyota Uhura... Commander Pavel Chekov... and of course himself, Captain Scott of Engineering... they and their former crewmate, Captain Hikaru Sulu, were all practical legends now. Bless his heart, Sulu had been there too, accepting congratulations almost as if he were retiring with the rest of them. It had felt good to have all his friends around him, Scotty reflected, but it was a bittersweet event, and the grinning and hallooing of a thousand scattered young faces whom he and his companions didn't even recognize had somehow made it even more awkward. ...The cake and punch had helped, though. Scotty tossed back a final draught of the lightly-spiked fruit blend and threw his disposable cup in a trashcan.

"Unca Scotty!"

Well, there was a welcome sound. Scotty grinned as he saw the two young figures running toward him. One was Demora Sulu, his friend's now fourteen-year-old cadet daughter. The other was his own dear wee Orin. Though she was now approaching nine years old, as a Dinarian, the lass still didn't look or act a day over six. Scotty chuckled happily as he took the squealing bundle in his arms, receiving a generous round of tiny kisses around his face as he did so.

"Happy retirement, Unca Scotty," Orin beamed, and wrapped her little arms around her guardian's neck.

Scotty returned the gesture, nuzzling his adoptive daughter close. How different that phrase sounded, coming from her. Less like "Well done, old lad," and more like "Happy birthday, you dear old thing!"

"Thanks for lookin' after her, Demora," Scotty smiled and nodded in acknowledgement over Orin's shoulder.

"That's okay, Captain Scott; it was fun!" the dark-haired Japanese girl smiled in return. The new cadet and the tiny child had spent the last hour sharing odd little games and stories, running quietly around one of the grassy banks facing the San Francisco Bridge. Demora was at the age where she could be a responsible enough babysitter, yet play was still no stranger to her.

Now that the party was over, of course, Demora would be in search of her own Papa.

"Demora, lass, I've told ye before tae call me 'Scotty,'" the aged engineer reminded her, though still with a smile.

"Oh, sorry, Scotty. I just keep watching myself--I'll have to address officers properly when I'm in the Fleet, you know," Demora explained herself shyly.

Scotty patted the lass' shoulder. "Ye'll do just fine, Demora, and ye'll make yer dad an' all the rest of us proud." There was a somber look in Scotty's brown eyes as he told her this, but then they rebrightened as he jerked his head in the direction of the doorway. "He should be comin' out with the others any time noo."

Demora skipped off just as Orin finally lessened her grip around her guardian's chubby neck. Now it seemed there was just the two of them standing there by the banks of the river, watching the falling leaves.

"Did you have a nice party, Unca Scotty?" Orin asked innocently, still beaming.

Scotty brushed an errant grassblade off of Orin's braided ponytail. "Aye, lassie, and Ah saved ye some cake," he smiled gently. His thoughts were still wandering a bit.

They had all known this day was coming, for several months now. Scotty and his friends had made their plans for retirement well in advance. He himself had used a large chunk of his pension and savings to buy a small yacht to go sailing in, and a small but comfortably-furnished house for himself and Orin, nestled there in his childhood home somewhere between the highlands and the lowlands of Scotland--the gentle green hills.

Orin had absolutely loved it when they had visited there. Sometimes it was unreal, how little the amount of time they had spent on warm fresh land compared to shipboard and the twinkling blackness of space. Scotty had often worried about his decision to adopt the little Dinarian--a starship was perhaps not the most ideal place for a child. Yet he had loved Orin, and she him, so deeply, they both had known they would have been heartbroken any other way.

Still, it had been difficult, during the more dangerous missions when the _Enterprise_ children were all obligatorily left behind, passed on to relatives or off-duty Starfleet friends as temporary guardians. Scotty worried more for Orin's sake than for his--what would the poor bairn do if... something had happened to him? The whole horrible incident on the Genesis Planet, this more recent affair at Camp Khitomer... there were so many times Scotty and his companions' lives had been in danger. Even wee Orin herself had unknowingly put herself in peril by stowing away on the _Bounty_ during their time-traveling adventure. That had been an amusing "little" trip overall, but the dangerous warp around the sun, and the flooding of the ship's belly in the water, had scared Scotty half to death, what with little Orin being there beside him.

In a way, he would miss it, he knew... the feel of the _Enterprise_ deckplates beneath his feet, the hum of his beloved engines in his ears... the wonder and freedom of traveling through space... but retirement had also come as a relief.

Dear Commander Kevin Riley had apparently been in the kitchen singing "Kathleen" with Orin when his wife had seen the news about Camp Khitomer on the holovision. Bless their souls, the Rileys had managed to keep it from Orin until they saw the Peace Conference broadcast come back on, with Scotty standing there being applauded next to Kirk and Sulu.

"See, your uncle's a hero now," Kathleen (what a coincidence her name had been when Riley had married her!) had explained to the little Dinarian, holding her up to see the screen better. She had hoped that Orin's innocence would prevent her from understanding the worried flush that had come over Kathleen's face and was just then starting to fade back to normal.

Orin did understand eventually, though, at least to a certain degree. The little Dinarian's 50 pounds had nearly knocked all of Scotty's 280 to the ground as she had exploded through the air toward him, the very moment the crew had walked off the spacedock. "Oh Unca Scotty, you're back, you're back!" she had cried, clinging to her guardian's chest so tightly that the very vacuum of space could never have pried her loose.

"There there, lassie... there there there. No more tears," Scotty had whispered as he kissed her, though his own tears had been flowing, too.

And now it was really true. No more sailing the stars... but with it came no more tears. At first, this tradeoff seemed bittersweet. But the more Scotty thought about it, the less bitter and the more sweet it became.

Space had a magic to it, but the land did too. And Scotty was not always the completely mechanical-minded engineer many thought he was. He loved the whir and the clank of the ship's innards, the fun puzzles of wires and machines, the new discoveries of lines and numbers revealed in each new month's technical journals. But he also loved the sea and the sky and the fresh green grass, and the lilt of old songs, and the feel of a deep rich laugh or a warm, home-cooked meal in his stomach. And of course, above all, he loved having little Orin in his arms, whether the two of them were in a ship's cabin or in a Terran park or home.

He remembered their whispered stories in the cabin nook each night, where Orin was a fairy princess, and Scotty was her clown and king and old silver knight all in one. Now Scotty would take his little bairn hand in hand through the glades and creeks and highland hills, show her old castles and fairy rings, and all those stories would, at least in part, start coming true.

And they could still sail, too... sail in the loch near Scotty's home, on his new boat... take the space shuttle for an occasional trip to an amusement planet or observation station... and sail through the sky... Scotty had a few friends who were pilots, after all, who might take him and Orin for a little spin once in a while. The bright fluffy clouds could be as beautiful as stars.

Scotty chuckled to himself again as he saw the little Dinarian standing there in the autumn grass, rocking slowly back and forth on her heels (not unlike she had often seen her older guardian do), staring up at him like a loyal terrier. Impulsively, he grinned and grabbed Orin under her arms with both strong hands.

"Nyeeeowww..."

Orin shrieked with glee as Scotty suddenly twirled her around in midair, hopping through the crunchy leaves and pretending the little Dinarian was a toy plane or starship. Orin played along almost like a toddler, spreading her tiny arms as "wings," giggling as Scotty waved and loop-the-looped her against the bright fall sky.

As much as he still loved the _Enterprise_ , nothing could compare to the happy little ship Scotty had in his hands right now.

Everything was going to be all right.

"Toss me in the leaves, Unca Scotty!" Orin suddenly pleaded, flapping her arms excitedly.

Scotty eyed one of the larger trees in the Starfleet Headquarters grounds. It had shed several of its red and orange leaves into inviting little piles nearby.

"All right then, lassie, if ye're sure," the old engineer agreed, and, very gently, heaved his little bairn a few safe feet into the crunchy foliage. Orin shrieked with glee again and rolled around like a puppy, leaves flying and crackling around her tiny frame.

Scotty beamed with paternal pleasure as he watched. The dear bairn was certainly having fun. To the rest of the crew, transitioning from Starfleet to retirement was a huge, stark gap, like the difference between breathing air and water. But to Orin, the whole affair was going to be as simple and gentle a change as playing for a long while outside and then coming in for a nice bath and a big supper and a cuddle by the fire. The more he watched her, the more Scotty felt the same. ...And he wanted a go at those leaves himself, actually.

Another leaf fell from the tree just then, and brushed Scotty's shoulder as it drifted down. He flicked its left-behind crumbs from his maroon uniform in slight concern. He would certainly be saving his Starfleet clothes, for sentimental value above all, but also for special occasions when he might wear them in the future, like reunions and patriotic Federation holidays and the like. It wouldn't do to get his maroon overcoat dirty. Although (he rubbed his ample belly absently), what with the prospect of lots of fine comfort food rather than standard shipboard fare ahead of him, it mightn't be long until he outgrew his already oversized uniform! _Och well,_ Scotty chuckled to himself again, and undid his belt and insignia pin and overcoat clasps just in case, slipping the outer garment off his portly frame and laying it carefully on a bench nearby. Now clad only in black pants and a comfortable yellow sweater, he laughed and dove into the leaves with Orin.

The two of them played for quite a while, unconscious of the amused stares they must have been getting from passers-by up the hill on the Headquarters sidewalks. Scotty and his adoptive daughter laughed and splashed leaves at each other like water in a pool, until Orin had several stems sticking out of her hair and Scotty even had some tiny leaf-shreds in his mustache. Finally, Scotty slid comfortably on his back and hoisted Orin up in his arms again, the two of them surrounded by a grand mess of autumn cheer.

"Wheee..." Orin giggled, and Scotty gently let her drop back down again. The little Dinarian landed in the middle of her guardian's big tummy with a pleasant squash. It wasn't long before Scotty was giggling, too, Orin's little fingers tickling into the cuddly softness of his belly.

"I love you, Unca Scotty," Orin whispered, her eyes all a-twinkle.

Scotty gathered Orin into a tight hug. "I love ye too, me wee darlin'," he whispered in return, and kissed her on the cheek.

Yes, everything was going to be all right.


End file.
